For some years the new economy in Sweden was to a high extent represented by a couple of new and fast growing companies. One of these was the Internet consultancy Framfab (Framtidsfabriken). The company became synonymous with the unusual and exciting, a new kind of business, new products and new attitudes. In national media Framfab was mostly represented by its C.E.O. Jonas Birgersson, who in often spectacular ways presented the company. During a proportionately short period (1995-2000) Framfab grew from a couple of persons to a multinational corporation. The company was introduced on the Stockholm stock exchange list and enjoyed a huge success. But in the spring of 2000 a downward spiral started. The company began to decline as fast as it... (More)

For some years the new economy in Sweden was to a high extent represented by a couple of new and fast growing companies. One of these was the Internet consultancy Framfab (Framtidsfabriken). The company became synonymous with the unusual and exciting, a new kind of business, new products and new attitudes. In national media Framfab was mostly represented by its C.E.O. Jonas Birgersson, who in often spectacular ways presented the company. During a proportionately short period (1995-2000) Framfab grew from a couple of persons to a multinational corporation. The company was introduced on the Stockholm stock exchange list and enjoyed a huge success. But in the spring of 2000 a downward spiral started. The company began to decline as fast as it had grown. In my study I use Framfab to examine processes of change in the Internet sector of the new economy. My aim is to analyse the conditions for a so-called fast company, which Framfab was often called. For some time, being a fast company became synonymous with being a successful company conquering the future. The rhetorics was concentrated on the importance of reaching what could be called escape velocity from the old economy, which was represented by older corporations (at Framfab called ?respirators?). In the strivings to reach escape velocity notions of flow and friction, forces that supported or prevented the rate of change, became important. Using one of Framfab's offices (the Ideon office), as point of departure I analyse how the rhetorics on speed was related to practices in the office. I especially focus on the development of a product called Brikks. It is a portal-like concept, which emerged from the work with a website (www.chatb.com) that Framfab constructed for the Telecom Company Ericsson. In the launching and presentation of the product Brikks and the company Framfab, images of the young company were conjured up by highlighting the possibilities given by digital media. One of the most important of these media was the networked computer. It was the central means of production in Framfab as well as a kind of dream machine. The high-speed journey into the new network society/economy was going to be achieved with computers. One of the main questions of the study is: what was possible to do with the computers in a fast company? The book examines how the computers were vehicles for change and acceleration, but how they also inhibited powers, which slowed down a fast company. (Less)

@phdthesis{c0eaa471-e2bc-4ea4-a9de-17593ba5b36f,
abstract = {For some years the new economy in Sweden was to a high extent represented by a couple of new and fast growing companies. One of these was the Internet consultancy Framfab (Framtidsfabriken). The company became synonymous with the unusual and exciting, a new kind of business, new products and new attitudes. In national media Framfab was mostly represented by its C.E.O. Jonas Birgersson, who in often spectacular ways presented the company. During a proportionately short period (1995-2000) Framfab grew from a couple of persons to a multinational corporation. The company was introduced on the Stockholm stock exchange list and enjoyed a huge success. But in the spring of 2000 a downward spiral started. The company began to decline as fast as it had grown. In my study I use Framfab to examine processes of change in the Internet sector of the new economy. My aim is to analyse the conditions for a so-called fast company, which Framfab was often called. For some time, being a fast company became synonymous with being a successful company conquering the future. The rhetorics was concentrated on the importance of reaching what could be called escape velocity from the old economy, which was represented by older corporations (at Framfab called ?respirators?). In the strivings to reach escape velocity notions of flow and friction, forces that supported or prevented the rate of change, became important. Using one of Framfab's offices (the Ideon office), as point of departure I analyse how the rhetorics on speed was related to practices in the office. I especially focus on the development of a product called Brikks. It is a portal-like concept, which emerged from the work with a website (www.chatb.com) that Framfab constructed for the Telecom Company Ericsson. In the launching and presentation of the product Brikks and the company Framfab, images of the young company were conjured up by highlighting the possibilities given by digital media. One of the most important of these media was the networked computer. It was the central means of production in Framfab as well as a kind of dream machine. The high-speed journey into the new network society/economy was going to be achieved with computers. One of the main questions of the study is: what was possible to do with the computers in a fast company? The book examines how the computers were vehicles for change and acceleration, but how they also inhibited powers, which slowed down a fast company.},
author = {Willim, Robert},
isbn = {91-7139-549-0},
keyword = {ekonomisk politik,Utvecklingsekonomi,Systems engineering,etnologi,företagskultur,framfab,uppgradering,datorer,IT,speed,network society,economic policy,Speed,företagsekonomi,economic systems,economic theory,econometrics,Economics,Business Rhetoric,Flow,Digital Media,Upgrading,Computers,Fast Companies,ekonomisk teori,ekonomiska system,Data- och systemvetenskap,computer technology,ekonometri,The New Economy,Economics of development},
language = {swe},
pages = {184},
publisher = {Brutus Östlings Bokförlag Symposion},
school = {Lund University},
title = {Framtid.nu : flyt och friktion i ett snabbt företag},
year = {2002},
}